Ballad of the Bone Daddies
by Iveechan
Summary: Ever wonder how Jack gained title of Pumpkin King and why Oogie Boogie has such ill feelings for him? That and more are explained in this prequel of sorts, and the reasonings are not what one would expect...


BALLAD OF THE BONE DADDIES  
  
-By Katelyn, aka Iveechan  
  
Hot bodies were packed like sardines under the light of the full moon. The only beings who could manuever in this vast crowd were the whispy ghost spirits. A pair of giggling mummy girls, each with a loose wrap flowing from the back of their heads mimicking ponytails, bumped into a leather and chain-clad werewolf. The beast bristled his fur and snarled, yet the girls ignored him and continued their excited chatter. A young vampire stood poised and collected but a small smile indicated his own anticipation of what was to come. All eyes, whoever had them, were on a spiral-shaped hill stark against the large full moon, and a legion of behemoths encircled this special formation as if protecting it from the ghoulish crowd.  
  
Suddenly, what seemed to be colored lights, flashed on the hill forming odd patterns. The crowd shushed. The loud wailing of a badly tuned accordian sounded. A cheer rose among the crowd. A massive shadow in the shape of a face formed across the moon, seeming to swallowing the hill. The face smiled and bellowed, "Have you all been good little boys and girls?" The cheering, shrieking, and howling escalated. "That's what I thought," the face grinned. The shadow then melted away into thousand of fluttering shadow bats, revealing the sillouettes of four figures decorated in the colored lights. Five actually... a smaller monster was tucked inside one of the players' bass, another had what appeared to be an oddly shaped saxaphone, and a large fellow weiled the accordian. But the most exciting figure of all was ridiculously tall and thin with a rotund skull void of flesh and eyeballs. Ragged black netting and cloth hung loosly on his lean body as metal buckles clanked against his bones. With no warning, the skeletal man leapt up and burst into song:  
  
"Well a hello and a howdy   
  
I'm very glad to see you.   
  
And we're getting kinda rowdy   
  
And we've got a lot to say   
  
And we're going to try and do our very best to entertain you   
  
And we hope you'll be delighted by the time you go away"  
  
The crowd roared as the wirey man bounded through the make-shift stage of the pumpkin patch and the spiral mountain. His movements, quick and graceful, were a pleasure to view. The music accompanying the song was both classical and upbeat, producing an eerie yet appealing sound.  
  
"And we're called by name, Bone Daddies   
  
And we're here just to entertain you   
  
Make you laugh and maybe offened you   
  
But we hope that you, will be happier than when you came because   
  
It is more fun. Just relax, prepare to come undone."  
  
The monsters were reckless now. Hyperative fans tried to slither their way through the behemoths, but the bouncers would have non of that. Creatures danced like Satan himself had possessed their minds. Shouts of "JACK, JACK, JACK!" erupted from the crowd. It was a true dead man's party. Jack's singing did little to calm the undead moshers down.  
  
"Let's have a party there's a full moon in the sky   
  
It's the hour of the wolf and I don't want to die   
  
I'm so happy dancing while the grim reaper   
  
cuts, cuts, cuts   
  
But he can't get me  
  
I'm as clever as can be   
  
and I'm very quick   
  
but don't forget   
  
No one lives forever!!!"  
  
What seemed like hours later, the skeleton announced, "Alright boys and ghouls, me and the Bone Daddies need to take a break! We're sorry to leave you now, but don't fret, I'll be back after the intermission!" The monsters groaned as a shadow covered the moon to give Jack and the musicians a chance to retreat behind the mountain. The four (or five) young men met up with what a appeared to be a living sack; he was quite large, taller than Jack and much wider.  
  
"Whew!" the bug-eyed, frizzle-haired sax player breathed. "This is our most successful concert yet! I'm so beat, I don't know how I'm going to be able to continue!"  
  
"what are you wiggin' out about?" rumbled the accordian player. "You're not the one who has to jump around singing your bones out, keeping the leeches happy, having to..."  
  
"Well that's not polite!" Jack appeared right behind the accordian player, giving the man a slight jump. Jack sounded more jovial than offended. "We live for our fans, and besides, every Bone Daddy does his fair share, right Oogie?"  
  
The overstuffed sack creature had his stout arms outstretched as flashing bright insects crawled up his body and squirmed through his stitching. "Looks like I lose this bet," Oogie Boogie chuckled. "I didn't think my brightcrawlers could endure lighting up the area so vibrantly." He turned to the few remaining worms and said, "Come on babies and have a rest".  
  
Jack played with a stray worm on his bony finger. "These guys will need to put their little hearts into our next concert. I have it all planned out. It's going to be a scream."  
  
"This gonna be the Halloween one?" the bass instrument's tiny occupant questioned.  
  
"You better not preform on this sacred holiday and spoil my town's good name, Jack Skellington!" a pompous voice interupted. The Bone Daddies spun around to see a short, stout man sporting a long hat taller than his own body length and a scowling white face maddly trot up to them. He stopped when he reached the main man Jack himself, angry pink oculars glaring intensely into empty eye sockets.   
  
"As mayor of Halloween Town, I will NOT allow you hooligans to ruin the day honoring the dead!"  
  
"Mayor, Mayor," Jack smiled, leaning down to the short man's level, "we respect Halloween Town's most beloved holiday, and we would never want to disrespect your authority. If that is what you wish, we'll..."  
  
"No," the Mayor growled. "What I wish is for you heathens to disband, never preform again! You just go around where ever you feel, riling my dignified citizens into crazed beasts. But I can't control you boys' activities." The mayor's face then formed into that of a distressed one. "Pleeeeease... if you cause a ruckus on Halloween, I'll lose my respect and possibly my position as mayor! I beg of you, don't perform on Halloween!"  
  
The Mayor was pleading now, clinging onto Jack's ripped pants legs. The skeleton gently removed the Mayor and gave him a reassuring smile. Jack knew that the Mayor, despite his position, was a very weak man who felt threatened by the popular Bone Daddies. Most of the Mayor's efforts to compensate by acting high and mighty were a joke, even his ridiculously tall hat was just a tad too obvious. How he became leader of Halloween, nobody knew, but it was because of him that the Holiday was so bland and loathed by those of the outside world.  
  
"You have my word," said Jack in a soothing voice. "We wouldn't dream of putting your repution in jeoprody. So if that is what you wish, we'll remain far, far away from Halloween town with October thirty first rolls in. You have nothing to fear."  
  
The Mayor's head then spun around revealing his rarely seen happy and confidant side. "Splendid! Well, I'll be off to attend to some important duties now!" And with that, the short leader skittered off. When the Mayor was out of sight, Oogie approached Jack's side, frowning.  
  
"You going to let some midget push us, the Bone Daddies, around?!" he growled. Jack snickered.  
  
"Oogie, I'm surprised at you! Of course not!"  
  
"You mean...?" the sax player started.  
  
"Yes!" Jack cried. "We ARE going to have a Halloween concert, it's going to be extraordinary, and it's going to be our best yet! We're going to give them hell!"  
  
The Bone Daddies broke into demonic laughter as the revitalized brightcrawler bugs scuttled out of Oogie Boogie's sack body, indicatingf that it was almost time to continue this preformance. Jack grinned widely and nearly flew to the spiral hill, eager to delight his ghoulish fans... 


End file.
